March 20th, 2006

This movie was a blast.
I’m no history man. I just knew that in 1972 Munich Olympics, 11 Israeli athletes were ruthlessly killed by the Palestinians, and afterwards there was also a secret attempt of revenge. Wow, I was expecting a lot of action.

Well, a lot of action it was.

But… the movie is more toward the personal effect of the main character Avner (Eric Bana) toward this “revenge” attempt. I cannot agree more, if I am in his shoes. What came out from supposedly normal life: A beautiful (did I say BEAUTIFUL?) wife, a newborn daughter, should be a small happy family. There was peace, and all-in-a-sudden peace no more.

Revenge is like morphine. You cannot stop the chain-reaction of wanting-for-more once you start it. Even if you do stop, the damage or the urge even to the slightest, remains.

Their early attempts were successful. I like how the flow of the story gave variations of suspense and thrill over each murder attempt they made. However, later in the story, one by one of Avner’s team-mates got mysteriously killed, and the terror begun. The problem here is that Avner had a wife an a daughter. This adds to the complexity of his already overwhelmed mind of fear and guilt. He kept on haunted by seemingly endless suspected (both real and false) murder attempts against his family and nothing will ever be the same as it used to be. Avner and his family always move around from place to place and keep on hiding to avoid getting detected or recognized by the other conflicting party.

So I would suggest not to avenge on anything. Start forgiving other people’s mistakes! And I always hope that Palestine and Israel can finally have peace together…

March 18th, 2006

Ooooggghhh… Ziyi Zhang… I love her… :P~ I have to admit I did not remember what the meaning of geisha when I decided to buy a ticket on Mainstreet Cinema. I kept on pondering, but couldn’t remember it. That is why I was as curious as Chiyo when she asked the geisha servant lady about what a geisha is.

Well, geisha is a prostitute.

No matter how the movie is trying to make it look like its not, but in any way it is. Basically. It’s not that I condemn them. It’s ironic, pity…

The story is good though. Very simple, as simple as how Chiyo or Sayuri looks: so innocent. As her purpose in her life is: do anything it takes to pursue a handsome “rescuer” (including to become a geisha, which is understandable as she didn’t know what it really is). Her blue eyes… Well, I know Gong Li, Zhang Ziyi, and Michelle Yeoh are no Japanese. And I doubt any japanese had blue eyes. But I still love the movie. I like the atmosphere of the movie. It just looks simply plainly honestly purely… nice.

Too bad it is all about a geisha and a geisha customer. Geisha is… well… a prostitute. And a geisha customer is… a man-prostitute. Well I understand Chiyo/Sayuri’s position and the cultural background at the time is not helping her in any way, but… as touchy romantic as it looks when Nitta Sayuri finally meet up with Chairman and tumble on a loving kiss, I don’t like the fact that the poor geisha fell upon a lucky “geisha customer.”

I wish he wasn’t a geisha customer. Or wasn’t he? Correct me if I’m wrong.

(…oh I wish I play Chairman…)

I lllooovvee how the geisha dance. Their gesture is very smooth and elegant. Michelle Yeoh is also elegant. Gong Li is as naughty as she is (looks like).

Still, the idea of giving up virginity to the highest bidder is just plain sucks. But I guess, if I was there setting my eyes on Nitta Sayuri and had lots of coins to spend, I would bid to the highest. After that I will stop her career as a geisha and marry her!

I would say Nitta Sayuri is the prettiest Japanese portrayal (wearing kimono) I have ever seen :P~… well she is no japanese, but who cares…

March 17th, 2006

King-Kong Movie image courtesy of Universal Studios, 2005

I know I’m ignorant. I cannot compare this King-Kong to other, older King-Kong movies simply because… I have not seen any of them. But I somehow can guess. Big ugly gorilla somehow arrived at the states and stomp and riff-raff and so on…

Well, most people probably (especially academics people) won’t even think of this kind of movie. Sounds stupid for them. But… hey, why not for some fun! Watching big gorilla stompin’ around and what should not be missed is… Naomi Watts!!! Wow… :P~

Well.

There is nothing much to say about this movie.

It’s just another Kong movie.

As a computer graphics kind of guy, I set my eyes upon the gorgeousness of the visual effects: A-W-E-S-O-M-E. However as most digital effects, especially on scenes where they were added to the scene later, most of them lack the feeling of “heavyness” when Kong stomps or walk though the streets. It looks like its there, but still in some scenes it looks “added”… in which it is.

Well… I walk out the Mainstreet Cinema in bad mood. The movie is good. The picture is. But the story…
1. I wish Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) had more… contribution… in the story; rather than just a lousy actress who easily fell in love with a script writer, basically just EEEEEEK, EEEEEEEK, EEEEEEK (scream noise), became Kong’s pet, later, Kong’s friend… and then… just sitting or standing there watching Kong captured or die… and the worst part is, after that, she hugged and kissed Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody). Well… I just couldn’t see any legal romanticism at that moment. I think she should run straight down the Empire State Building and kill all those who killed Kong. (well that might sound too much… but… better…) I wish she could be more like Beauty and the Beast… well, ok, Kong is no handsome prince cursed into a beast, but, at least, show some strength, courage, power, other than an object of beauty, like Carl Denham (Jack Black) said at the end of the movie, “It is BEAUTY, who killed the BEAST”.
2. Well, I saw a huge gorilla, T-Rexs, all those Sauruses (Brontosaurus? I guess?), giant ants, giant lizards, giant worms, giant COCKROACHes (yuck), giant komodos, giant that, giant this, giant there, giant here… all look cruel and nasty. But they were basically just craving for food. That’s all. Human beings, try to capture Kong and make fortune out of Kong’s despair. And when it just found its freedom, they killed it. And they are proud of their kill, taking photographs in front of their kill. That is just plain SUCK.

Other than that, it is a fine movie. I would collect the DVD for the visual effects and… ehm… Naomi Watts… but that’s all. Story is just that and I will probably leave out the ending and watch the scenes where Kong and Ann Darrow had fun together in the forests over and over again… Didn’t I say this movie had nice natural sceneries?